1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a photographic apparatus and more particularly to a collapsible photographic apparatus having a flexible printed circuit board interconnecting the movable portions thereof.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Thin and compact photographic cameras of the fully automated type have been proposed wherein the exposure of the film unit is controlled electronically, immediately following which the disclosed film unit is rapidly processed at a self-contained processing station. A version of such a camera having a compactness and thinness suited to permit convenient carrying in a pocket of a garment is described in a U.S. patent entitled "Reflex Camera" by E. H. Land, U.S. Pat. No. 3,672,281. Such cameras are of the single lens reflex variety and require a complex control system in order to accommodate a requisite viewing and focusing mode during which time the single lens reflex camera is in a normally open status to unblock the passage of light through the exposure opening to a viewfinder. At the commencement of an exposure cycle, the shutter mechanism of the camera exposure control system is driven into a closed or light blocking orientation whereupon the photographic camera is automatically operated to change from the viewing and focusing mode to an exposure mode in which photosensitive film is made accessible to an optical path of the taking lens of the camera. When the camera has assumed the exposure mode of operation, the exposure control system operates to release a shutter mechanism from its light blocking orientation wherein such exposure control parameters as exposure interval and aperture size are controlled as a function of scene brightness as evaluated with respect to the sensitometric characteristics of the film being exposed. At the termination of the electronically determined exposure interval, the shutter is again driven to a fully closed or light blocking position to terminate exposure until such time as the camera reassumes the viewing and focusing mode.
Single reflex photographic cameras of the above described type are suitable for use with film units described in detail in U.S. patent to E. H. Land U.S. Pat. No. 3,415,644 entitled "Novel Photographic Products and Processes". Such film units include all of the materials necessary to produce a positive photographic print by an image forming process which is now well known in the art and involves the formation of transverse image forming substances in an exposed photosensitive element by their diffusion in a manner forming a visual positive image.
Single reflex photographic cameras of the above described type are collapsible into a thin compact configuration in order to facilitate the ease with which such cameras may be carried when not in actual use. The camera thus includes a plurality of housing sections that are pivotally connected to one another for relative movement between the extended operable condition and the compact collapsed condition. The pivotal relationship of the housing sections necessitates that a flexible electrical connection be provided between at least two housing sections in order to provide power from a planar battery disposed within the film unit to an exposure control system stationed within an adjacent housing section which pivots with respect to the film unit housing. Such a flexible electrical connection may be provided by a typical multistrand cable arranged to flex in accordance with the erecting and collapsing of the subject camera. Such multi-strand cables, however, have proved expensive to manufacture and install, and would preferably be replaced by more economical printed circuit boards. However, difficulty arises due to the required orientation and direction of travel of the terminal portions with respect to each other wherein one terminal portion is required to pivot about an axis orthogonal to the plane of the other terminal portion. In order that the printed circuit board not fracture under repetitive flexing, it is necessary that the board be flexed in a gradual manner over an extended length portion thereof. In other words, eventhough the printed circuit board may be flexible, it would still fracture in a relatively short time if it is flexed continuously about a sharp fold or crimp.
However, because of the specific spatial relationships required of the end terminal portions with respect to each other, it is necessary that the printed circuit board be sharply folded in order to interconnect the end terminal portions. Therefore, any pivotal motion between the respective planes of each terminal portion, as initiated by either the erecting or collapsing of the subject camera, must not operate to flex the printed circuit board about the fold line lest the printed board fracture.
Therefore, it is a primary object of this invention to provide a collapsible camera apparatus having two pivotally connected sections interconnected by a printed circuit board.
It is also an object of this invention to provide a collapsible camera apparatus having two sections with respective terminal portions interconnected by a flexible printed circuit board wherein said terminal portions are orthogonally arranged with respect to each other.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a collapsible camera apparatus having at least two pivotally interconnected sections interconnected by a prefolded printed circuit board wherein pivotal motion between the respective sections operates only to flex the printed circuit board in a gradual manner over an extended length portion thereof with substantially no flexing taking place about the prefold line.
It is an even further object of this invention to provide a collapsible photographic apparatus having at least two pivotally connected sections with respective terminal portions interconnected by a flexible printed circuit board prefolded in a manner to accommodate an orthogonal relationship between the terminal portions wherein pivotal motion between the camera sections operates to flex the printed circuit board only in a gradual manner over an extended length portion of the printed circuit board without any substantial flexing taking place about the printed circuit prefold line.